Topic: The Organisation Society
1 Scientific management tends to privilege the status quo. Describe the main features of scientific management. What role might these features have played in the UN's apparent failure to respond to the rapidly changing situation in Rwanda?
2 Weber feared the potential implications of bureaucratic organisation. To what extent did bureaucratic regulations and structures affect the interplay between the UN and General Roméo Dallaire, particularly the resistance he encountered from the very beginning of the mission in Rwanda?
Topic: Understanding Self, Identity and Diversity
1 Discuss how the different perceptual categories among key stakeholders in the case study influenced the genocide.
2 How did the issue of diversity impact the genocide (both events leading up to, during, and after the killings)?
Topic: Motivation and Workplace Attitudes; The Emotional Organisation
1 Discuss to what extent the UN and Dallaire were empowered to resolve the situation in Rwanda. Draw on the ‘dimensions of empowerment' model in your discussion.
2 Values congruence is an important factor when the resolution of conflict involves diverse groups. Discuss the similarities and differences with their values for peace held between key players who were pro-Tutsi and pro-Hutu.
Topic: Group Work and Teams
1 Identify the major stakeholders that influenced the actions of the peace-keeping force in Rwanda. Discuss the factors that both increased and decreased group cohesiveness among each stakeholder group. Explain what negative factors arose from group cohesiveness that influenced the genocide.
2 Taking into consideration the ‘team dimensions' model, discuss how each dimension influenced the course of events leading to the genocide.
Topic: Power, Control, Resistance in Organisations
1 Dallaire contended with many restraints in terms of his power and authority to make decisions and advance the goals of the mission. Describe the sources of these restraints and how they may have impacted on the failure of the mission to prevent the genocide.
2 How did power shape the relationship and actions of the Hutus and Tutsis?
Topic: Organisations and Leadership
1 How would you characterize the differences in the leadership approaches that General Dallaire and Booh Booh applied? What impact did each leadership approach have on their troops?
2 What leadership approaches best explain the behaviour of key personnel in the United Nations? Justify your answer.
Topic: The Future of Work
1 Organisations today are faced with the challenge of managing in a global environment. The United Nations is an organisation that exists for global purposes. The peace-keeping force for Rwanda, as an organisational subsidiary of the UN, needed to function in the face of many challenges related to this global background.
What globalisation issues does the case of the Rwandan genocide raise?